GSI Seminar Series: Science for Adaptation and Resilience Action – a development perspective: Dr Kirsty Lewis

Abstract: Tackling climate change and environment degradation is fundamental to achieving the Global Goals and is vital to the future growth and resilience of communities around the world. It is critical that we mitigate climate change in order to limit warming to a level that we hope can be managed through adaptation, but mitigation on its own is not enough – we still need to adapt to the warming that remains. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is on the front line of the UK Government’s efforts to support adaptation and resilience action in developing countries. A key challenge for the department is understanding what we actually mean by adaptation and resilience in a development context, and if and how this is different from traditional development?. As part of this there is an evolving understanding of what is needed from climate research to inform both policy and action. In my presentation I will address some of these questions and talk about the growing demand for inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches in climate research to inform adaptation and resilience action in a development context.